Heavy explosions followed by a fire: this Thursday morning, shortly before 9 a.m., the inhabitants of Jarrie in Isère gave the alert on social networks, posting photos and videos of a huge plume of smoke, which emerged near their home.
The accident occurred in an Arkema chemical plant, a Seveso “high threshold” classified site.
The internal operation plan (POI) was immediately triggered by the manufacturer, followed by the specific intervention plan, at the request of the Isère prefecture.
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Sirens were broadcast to warn the population and invite them to take shelter, within a perimeter of 1100 m around the platform.
The fire, of electrical origin, was quickly contained by the operator's internal resources, joined by 83 firefighters and specialized teams from Sdis 38. No injuries were reported.
Lockdown measures have since been lifted.
"The atmospheric readings carried out by Arkema and the firefighters showed that there was no toxic release into the air", reports the mayor (Agir) of the town, Raphaël Guerrero, joined by the Parisian at midday.
The fire broke out in a sodium chlorate packaging workshop.
Arkema's Jarrie plant is the group's largest hydrogen peroxide production unit.
Its products are mainly used for bleaching and disinfection.